Jan Schmitt

My name is Jan Schmitt and I am an Assistant Professor in International Business and Strategy at Amsterdam Business School (UvA) since September 2021. I obtained my PhD degree from WU Vienna and previously, I was a visiting scholar at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business (Department of Strategy).

I study the changing role of headquarters (HQs) in multinational corporations using unique quantitative longitudinal datasets, rich qualitative longitudinal case studies, and novel survey data. In my dissertation, I focused on the emerging phenomenon of cross-border HQ relocations. I am passionate about enhancing our understanding of HQ relocations by approaching the phenomenon from different theoretical lenses (such as institutional, behavioral, and upper echelons theory). In the four papers of my dissertation, I holistically investigated the antecedents, the process, as well as the consequences of those organizational moves. This approach allowed me to contribute to research at the intersection of international business, global strategy, organizational design, and economic geography. Additionally, I am interested in how the ongoing digital transformation affects HQ roles and location choices.

Prior to my academic career, I graduated from CEMS at WU Vienna and University of Sydney. I also gained considerable industry (with BASF) and strategy consulting experience (with A.T. Kearney and Horváth & Partners) in Europe and South America.

Research Interest

Core research areas: headquarters, relocation, digitalization, multinational corporations, location choices, coordination

My research sits at the intersection of international business, global strategy, organizational design, and economic geography, exploring the organizational structures and location choices of multinational corporations (MNCs). I am particularly fascinated by the role headquarters (HQs) take over in coordinating such a highly complex and geographically dispersed network of firm units. Drawing on a variety of theoretical and methodological lenses, I investigate how current trends around HQ dispersion, disaggregation, and digitalization impact HQs’ functions, location choices, and coordination mechanisms. Those insights contribute to our understanding of how MNCs can successfully set up and orchestrate their internal firm network in order to compete across multiple product and geographic markets.